Best At Home Workout Plans Without Breaking the Bank

Motivated to workout but don’t feel like leaving your house? You have come to the right place to get some excellent ideas on how to get in a quality home workout without breaking the bank.

There are many different types of at home workout plans. Sure, it would be awesome to set up a stellar home gym in a spare room or basement; but, not everyone has space or money to accomplish this.  With big-box gyms popping up, you can often join a gym very inexpensively. But what if you don’t live close to a gym? What if there is a highly contagious virus outbreak? Or what about those days when you literally have just thirty minutes to try and squeeze something in?

Believe it or not, there are many things you can do in the comfort of your own home with very limited supplies.

Essential Home Workout Equipment

If money is tight, consider adding just one item to your workout tote each paycheck. Each item I am recommending can be purchased for less than $25 and they are essential for any workout routine at home.

• 12-15 pound Kettlebell
• Hand weights (I own 3, 5 and 10-pound weights)
• Yoga mat
• Yoga block
• Foam roller
• Resistance bands
• Medicine ball
• Jumprope

Why These Pieces of Equipment?

Kettlebell or Kettle-ball

A kettlebell is a valuable piece of equipment for your at home workouts for many reasons. The kettlebell would be one of the first pieces I would purchase, if starting a home gym, due to its versatility.

You can use a kettlebell in front of your body or behind it. It can be swung between your legs, dropped behind your head to work o triceps, or used to make pushups more challenging (as pictured).

In lieu of a medicine ball, a soft kettlebell (or kettlebell) can be used as a substitute.

Hand weights

The size and amount of hand weights you require will vary depending on how big and strong you are, as well as your intent in lifting. As a female distance runner, I lift light weights in higher repetitions. Therefore, I don’t need a lot of big weights for any workout at home.

A larger athlete with different goals would need heavier weights, resulting in higher costs. However, I would argue that purchasing an item every paycheck as I mentioned before is a cost-effective method of creating a home gym.

Hand weights, or dumbbells, can be used for limitless exercises such as shoulder presses, lawnmower pulls, bench press, tricep dips, etc.

Yoga Mat & Block

Why a yoga mat? Simple. This gives you an excellent place to do core work and stretching exercises for your workouts at home. It also doubles as a place to use the ever-important foam roller.

Plus, most distance runners I know don’t spend as much time as they should on flexibility and stretching. Giving yourself a good place to do these things helps to eliminate excuses.  My lack of flexibility is a reason I recommend a yoga block. It helps you to ease your way into certain holds and stretches.

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands are a great way to add additional challenges to bodyweight exercises. They are also small and lightweight, so they make exceptional travel companions. Adding a band to stretches and lunges give elevate that movement to a whole new level of challenging.

Foam Roller

A foam roller can be used for many different things. Using a roller can improve range of motion, relieve joint and muscle soreness and relax muscles. A quick Google search can yield many different ways to roll but when push comes to shove, it’s pretty simple. You just drop down to the floor and put the roller between the floor and your body.

Sometimes it hurts a little at first, but typically you leave a foam rolling session feeling very glad you took the time.

Medicine Ball

Medicine balls are great for core work and to add weight to squats. Honestly, I use a kettle-ball in place of a medicine ball so it was one less piece of equipment for me to purchase. However, if you ever have the opportunity to use your home gym with another person, there are a lot of two-person exercises where a medicine ball will come in handy.

Jump Rope

Haven’t touched a jump rope since you were in grade school singing “teddy bear teddy bear, turn around!”?  Neither had I until two summers ago. I was working out with a personal trainer and she told me we were going to jump rope for 5 minutes.

I almost laughed. I’m sure glad I didn’t. Ninety seconds in I realized that this was going to be harder than I had thought. Buy a jump rope. Try it. It’s good, cheap cardio.

Workouts at Home Requiring ZERO Equipment

Want to sneak in a workout and you don’t have any equipment? Think junior high physical education class. Calisthenics for the win. All the torturous warm-up exercises your gym teacher used to make you do: jumping jacks, burpees, push-ups, etc.

In addition to those, there is a lot you can do using just your body weight, such as lunges (standing and walking) and squats.

Working your core also does not require any frills. And I’m not just talking your PE teacher’s sit-ups. You can do crunches, work your obliques, and engage your entire power chain by doing planks.

Struggling and Need Guidance? Check Out Our Workout Plan Picks

No excused folks. If you struggle with coming up with your own home workout plan,  YouTube has a plethora of opportunities out there!

These are our favorite plans you can find on YT:

1. 15-Minute at Home Bodyweight Strength Workout

These ladies do basic moves that you can do in your own home, complete with modifications!

2. The Best 15 Minute Workout for Beginners

If you’re like me, you sometimes get lazy in your cross-training. Or maybe you want to get maximum benefits from a short period of time. Enter 15-minute workouts!

Creating a Circuit

Some of my favorite home workout plans involve circuit training. The mindset behind circuit training is to alternate between 6-10 different exercises without rest between each exercise. Within the circuit, each station targets different muscle groups.

For example, you might do an upper-body movement first, then lower body, then core work. The next exercise might go back to the upper body, but whereas the first might target biceps the second could focus on shoulders.  The idea is to move quickly from one exercise to the next so you are working your cardiovascular system, in addition to the muscle groups.

Pam’s Favorite Circuit

Pictured is my inspiration board. On it, I have cool pics. Race bibs when I hit a PR. The amazing Flanagan. You can see a map of the United States peeking out, where I tag every city in which I have run with a push pin. All the way to the right is my favorite circuit. Let me explain:

Warm-Up 800 meters on the treadmill, then here is the complete circuit. All exercises are assumed to be :60 seconds unless stated otherwise, or for a specific distance like the 400s.

• 400 meters hard
• 60-second plank
• Tricep drops
• Squats with the kettlebell
• Bicep curls with hand weights
• Lunges (with or without weights)
• Shoulder press
• Russian twists with kettlebell
• Pushups
• Leg lifts
• Lawnmower pulls

Repeat twice.

If this sounds easy, wait. It’s the workout I love to hate! I accomplish this workout with my treadmill, 8 and 10-pound weights, a 12-pound kettlebell and a yoga mat.

No Excuses

It is easy to make excuses about why we can’t work out. Creating your own home gym on a budget will negate some of those excuses for you. If you really want to make changes to your personal fitness make the commitment. You really can get some awesome home workouts without breaking the bank!